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Google to Commit $100 Million to Venture Capital Fund in its First Year

By

Jessica E. Vascellaro

Updated March 31, 2009 12:01 a.m. ET

Google Inc.
is expected to Tuesday announce more details about its highly anticipated venture-capital fund, including its plan to commit roughly $100 million to the endeavor in its first year, said people familiar with the matter.

The Mountain View, Calif., company said last year that it was considering launching a fund but has provided few other details.

Google is expected to announce that William Maris, a former entrepreneur whom Google hired to start the fund, and Rich Miner, a former executive in its mobile unit, will be partners with the fund, according to the people familiar with the matter. Mr. Maris's expected role was previously reported in The Wall Street Journal.

A Google spokesman Monday said that Google has been discussing the possibility of a venture-capital fund but doesn't have anything to announce "quite yet."

The fund, which is expected to be called Google Ventures, is seeking to operate less like a traditional corporate venture arm that backs companies related to its product lines, said people familiar with the matter. Instead, the company is going to manage for returns and consider a wide range of investments, they said.

Google has a history of investments, both through its business-development department and Google.org, its nonprofit division. Those units have recently become more aligned as Google's vice president of new business development, Megan Smith, has also become general manager of Google.org.

Recently, the company invested in Pixazza Inc., a Mountain View, Calif., start-up that allows Web publishers to earn money off images on Web sites by tagging items, like clothing, with links back to where the items can be purchased.